The investigation by the House of Representatives of the Nigerian Capital Market took a dramatic twist on Thursday as the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms. Arunma Oteh, accused the Chairman, House Committee on Capital Market and other Institutions, Mr. Herman Hembe, of corruption.
Oteh alleged that the committee had demanded N39m from SEC to fund the hearing.
“In asking the SEC to contribute N39m for this public hearing, don’t you think that you are undermining your capacity to carry out your duties?” She asked the chairman.
She also alleged that 24 hours before the hearing started on Wednesday, Hembe had demanded N5m from her.
Oteh said, “You also requested that we should provide at least N5m, which was a day before this public hearing started.
“I have raised issues regarding the credibility of the chairman, but that has not been addressed.
“I will like to say to the Nigerian people that I do not think that I am given a fair hearing.”
She claimed to have turned down both requests because she felt that they were not appropriate.
The SEC DG said, “I was told upon my appointment that whenever you try to fight corruption, corruption will fight you back.
“What I did not know was that this would come from the House committee.”
The committee had on Wednesday, questioned the capacity of SEC to manage the market in view of evidence that the agency itself conducted some of its internal operations in breach of public service regulations.
The committee discovered that Oteh had spent N30m on hotel accommodation in eight months, following her appointment in January 2010.
In one day, she reportedly spent N850, 000 on food, while on another day, she spent N85,000.
The committee also found out that she engaged two members of staff of Access Bank to work as special advisers in SEC. The two members of staff were reportedly paid allowances equivalent to those of a director in the Federal Civil Service.
The two officers were also said to be drawing their salaries from Access Bank till date.
The committee held the view that having Access Bank two members of staff working in SEC could compromise its ability to regulate the market effectively because the bank is a key player in the market.
It noted that the development also raised the question of the competence of Oteh to administer SEC.
However, the hearing took a dramatic turn when the DG questioned Hembe’s integrity.
She alleged that in October last year, Hembe had collected money and a first class ticket from SEC on the excuse of travelling to the Dominican Republic to attend a conference on capital market.
She accused Hembe of neither making the trip nor returning the money. She did not disclose the amount.
“Can you tell Nigerians that you returned the money when you did not travel?
“Would I now say that because SEC was approached to fund this hearing, that the committee has no competence to do its job, the same way that you questioned my competence as DG?” Oteh asked the chairman.
The DG also recalled her long-drawn battle with the former DG of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Prof. Ndi Okereke-Onyuike.
She told the panel that the Deputy Speaker of the House, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, is a nephew to Okereke-Onyuike, adding that Ihedioha’s wife worked with the Abuja office of the NSE.
“This sitting has become a Kangaroo court. Not even in Idi Amin’s Uganda did we have this type of hearing,” she fumed.
The entire session was tensed with Oteh and members of the committee exchanging words again and again. A member of the panel, Mr. Razak Bello-Osagie, tried to douse tension when she reminded her that the hearing was not about personality clashes.
However, reacting to the allegations, Hembe said they were “deliberately made to derail the objective of this hearing.”
He referred the allegations to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission for investigation.
“These are allegations and I invite the EFCC and the ICPC to investigate them.
“You should be ready to produce the evidence of the requests I made to you, but this hearing must go on,” Hembe said, overruling Oteh.
The committee further raised the issue of the N66.1m SEC approved to rent an official apartment for Oteh in Maitama.
The approval, which covered two year’s rent, was given after she had spent N30m on hotel accommodation in eight months.
The committee observed that the approval was in breach of the monetisation policy of the Federal Government.
However, SEC’s Executive Commissioner (Finance and Administration), Alhaji Lawan Sani-Stores informed the panel that the rent was not paid because “the landlord started making demand for more years from the initial two years.”
Oteh said that following the truncated transaction, she opted to use her monetised allowances to pay for her accommodation.
Another issue was the approval of N42.5m to procure three Toyota vehicles without a tender’s board meeting.
The panel described the development as a breach of the Public Procurement Act, 2007.
A memo said to be a resolution of a tender’s board meeting giving approval for the procurement was circulated for the signatures of board members. Two officials, including the Executive Commissioner (Legal and Enforcement), Mr. Charles Ahamefula, declined to sign the memo.
When the panel asked why he did not sign the memo, he replied that he was not part of the meeting and would not sign the resolution of a meeting he believed did not take place.
“I felt as a lawyer that I would be doing injustice by signing the memo of a meeting, which I did not attend,” he told the panel.
On the allegation of approving “illegal” recruitment in SEC’, Oteh denied endorsing such.
She claimed that there was a move to retain some corps members who served in the agency, but stated that when her attention was drawn that she was not following laid down procedures, the exercise did not proceed.
She, however, admitted to have engaged some contract staff in line with the existing policy of the agency, which made provisions for it.
Oteh attempted to disown the documents in possession of the panel, which seemed to have indicted some of her decisions.
She said, “None of the documents before the committee came formally from SEC; this is a great concern to me.”
The Chief Whip, Ishaka Bawa, cautioned the parties to be careful in the things they said. He said, “The House leadership is very aware of the ugly development in the proceedings of the public hearing.
“They have asked me to come and see how both parties can be appealed to in order to ensure a peaceful conduct of the hearing.”
The committee adjourned further sittings till Tuesday next week.
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